Self-Publishing : An Easy Way To Make A Fool Of Yourself

There is no definitive instruction manual for self-publishing.

… and certainly no quality control, so it is very easy to make a fool of yourself.

Publishing a book has gone from exceedingly difficult, frustrating or expensive to just about free and an absolute cinch in almost the blink of an eye.

The traditional agency model is under threat, and vanity publishers are looking for where their next buck will come from as independent or self-publishing has suddenly become front and centre of the market.

No matter what you want to write about, you can jump from your book being a word processor document on your laptop to a published ebook in less than a few minutes.

How about in paperback in less than a day?Within a few short weeks, you can have your paperback and ebook on sale in almost every country on the planet.

Self-publishing is fantastic news for those, who just a few short years ago were would be aspiring authors.

Now there’s no need to would be or aspire. Just push the button, and you are instantly a published author.

Easy, fast, and also a terrific way to make a fool of yourself just as quickly

And a laughingstock.

The problem is that there is no definitive instruction manual for this new publishing process and certainly no quality control.

A beautiful story can die a horrible death if the first page contains a spelling mistake. Or worse, mistakes.

Typos like that/than is/it there/their just to name a few classics, bounce off the page at a reader and say, ‘close this book now’.

A cover that looks like it was produced from a bad scan of a Polaroid is another reader killer, as is a poorly written blurb or bio.

Derek Haines

2 thoughts on “Self-Publishing : An Easy Way To Make A Fool Of Yourself”

Derek, you and I both know only too well that all of the hard work and heartache comes once a book is published. amongst other things there is the thorny topic of which genre the book fits into. If the genre isn’t flavour of the month, no matter how much care is taken, no matter how much money is spent on editing, marketing, cover etc, from day one your book simply won’t sell. You only have to peruse what is popular on television and at the movies these days, especially in the US, to know that just because a book is well written is no guarantee it will be read…

It seems to me that publishing a book no one notices isn’t making a fool of oneself. After all, if no one notices, what harm is done, except to the author’s expectations? Unless, of course, you’ve gone around bragging to everyone you know about your imminent fame and glory. What harms one’s credibility is getting noticed the wrong way, e.g., getting into flame wars with trolls or complaining on social media about all the cretins who aren’t discerning enough to appreciate your book.